ITIL ® has long been one of the few professional certifications that did not require holders to re-certify or perform any sort of continuing education to maintain the credential. As of January 2023, that changed. Under PeopleCert's new Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program, individuals who hold certain credentials are now required to recertify or record professional development points to keep their certifications in good standing.   PeopleCert , the sole examination institute of ITIL, has designed this program to help candidates show their commitment to continuing professional development and be able to stay ahead in a competitive labor market. By recertifying, individuals can demonstrate their understanding and up-to-date knowledge of best practices to support professional development. Beginning January 2023, all Global Best Practice certifications will need to be renewed after three years. Here are answers to some of the questions you may have: Which certifications ne

Written by Greg Smith , originally posted in OwlPoint News , September 14, 2021 What is the ITIL ®  Maturity Model? The ITIL Maturity Model is a tool used to objectively and comprehensively assess an organization’s service management capabilities and the maturity of the organization’s   Service Value System (SVS) . AXELOS is about to release the new ITIL Maturity Model which OwlPoint – the most tenured AXELOS Consulting Partner in the US – will use to assess clients’ service management capabilities. Why would an organization need an ITIL assessment? There are three main reasons an organization would want to have an ITIL assessment performed: To achieve a desired level of certification and/or meet contractual obligations, they must meet a pre-defined level of maturity and capability. They have undertaken a Service Management implementation or improvement initiative and need to validate the project goals have been met. They are preparing to undertake a Service Management implementation

By Donna Knapp We sometimes hear from organizations that they are “good with ITIL® v3”. We’d like to encourage an alternative point of view. AXELOS launched ITIL 4 in February 2019 and since then, the world has changed dramatically. COVID-19 has taught us all that the need for organizations to undergo a digital transformation is paramount to survival, as is the need to understand and leverage emerging disruptive technologies. But let’s be honest, that’s been the case long before a global pandemic changed our landscape. The gap between those able to benefit from the digital age and those who are not has been widening since the 1990s. What COVID-19 has done is accelerate the digital transformation processes in organizations. According  to a McKinsey survey of executives, “companies have accelerated the digitization of their customer and supply-chain interactions and of their internal operations by three to four years”. Let’s accept the reality of that… things have sped up dramatically,

To Understand Why and Why NOW, I will use some of the “Guiding Principles” that are the golden chords steaming through all practices defined in ITIL 4. These guiding principles are themes throughout the concepts and precepts that were discussed in a recent ITIL 4 Foundation certification class. Practitioners and thought leaders gathered together from all over the world to discuss and learn more about ITIL 4 best practices There are seven guiding principles discussed in ITIL 4. I will begin with these three to answer the question: Why and Why Now? Focus on Value ITIL 4 is a holistic approach to managing value. Based on the Service Value System and the integration of dimensions that tie together practices, ITIL 4 enables speed to value for all service providers. Value is the result of all of our people, practices, and technology. Value is what we deliver. ITIL 4 stresses the need to co-create value with all stakeholders none more important than with the customer. If we are going

This article was written by Bob Mathers and printed in CIO Canada on March 8, 2009. Since it covers one of my favorite topics, the ROI of ITIL, I am sharing the whole article with you. The ‘version 3’ updates of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, released in the spring of 2007, have breathed new life into ITIL. Certainly, it has sparked renewed interest from CIOs.   By applying a common language and best-practice guidelines for managing basic functional processes, ITIL goes beyond a basic focus on infrastructure cost efficiency and personnel productivity. As such, it is especially popular within organizations that are committed to performance improvement and seek to take their strategies to the next level. Increasingly, however, many executives are questioning the payback of investments in ITIL. It’s not that ITIL has failed. Indeed, evidence shows that a vast majority of executives involved in ITIL initiatives believe that the guidelines have produced benefits

Originally posted on The AXELOS Blog , February 2020 and written by Christian Nissen , IT management consultant and lead author for the ITIL 4 Drive Stakeholder Value module. Back in the industrial society, goods were a dominant factor in our lives. But in the “service era” we prefer to replace ownership of goods with access to services and resources without necessarily owning them. This is happening with and without digital transformation , although the latter accelerates this phenomenon: think Uber and Airbnb. In this context, the ITIL® 4 Specialist Drive Stakeholder Value module – within ITIL 4 Managing Professional – is about the engagement and interaction between service providers and stakeholders and the conversion of demand to value via IT-enabled services. But what does this mean in practice? Previously, services were treated in the same way as manufactured goods: it was the customer’s responsibility to derive value. Conversely, the core concept of ITIL 4 is that value is co-c

While implementing individual ITIL processes will net some immediate gain, it is the integration of those processes across the service lifecycle that delivers true value. Based on the five core ITIL publications, ITSM Academy's Managing Across the Lifecycle (MALC) prepares learners to show the world they are ITIL Experts . It pulls together all of the aspects of the service lifecycle; "its stages, processes and best practices", and translates that knowledge into practical workplace skills. This information and certification is great for CIOs, senior IT managers, IT managers, supervisors, IT professionals and IT operations and development professionals who require a business and management level understanding of the ITIL service lifecycle and how it may be implemented to enhance the quality of IT service provision within an organization Get ready... Learner preparation for this course is critical. The class includes access to ITSM Academy's “Learner Portal”

By: George Spafford The news is full of failing companies and lost jobs, and the IT job market has not been spared the current economic recession. It is a worrisome time for everyone. We can view the recession's effects on the IT economy from two different perspectives: (1) that of employees, who fear losing jobs and worry about having the right skills, and (2) that of employers, which need to improve operating effectiveness and efficiency. While separate, these views are not mutually exclusive. Continuing education and the pursuit of IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL)certifications can benefit both groups in terms of building IT skills and improving IT operational efficiency. Building IT skill sets with ITIL certification Firms hire workers based on their skill sets. While many organizations understand the value of developing IT workers' skills, others discard employees when skills no longer align with a company's needs. In their responses to employee surveys, it's

Part of ITIL 4 ’s value proposition is that it embraces newer ways of working, such as Agile, Lean and DevOps. I was recently asked whether there was a compelling argument for individuals to go to ITIL for information about these approaches, vs. going to ‘the source’. Here’s my answer and I’d love to hear yours. 3) What source? Yes. There is a massive amount of information available about these topics. There are many ‘definitive’ sources of knowledge. For lifelong learners such as myself, these sources are a joy. They can also be overwhelming and at times a challenge to apply. A search for information about Lean, for example, may take you down a manufacturing route which then requires translation. Looking to learn more about Agile? Which method? Scrum, SAFe, extreme programming … you get the point. 2) The source is evolving. As an example, DevOps practitioners often pride themselves in the fact that there is no definitive body of knowledge; rather, there is an evolving col

By Donna Knapp In the context of work, a role is typically defined as a set of responsibilities, activities and authorities granted to a person or team. While a role can, at times, represent a full-time job, this is not always the case. In the course of our work, many of us play different roles (i.e., we wear different hats). For example, we may play different roles within our teams (e.g., team lead or team member), or within practices (or processes) (e.g., practice owner, process owner, or practice/process practitioner), or in the context of a framework or methodology (e.g., customer, user, or sponsor; or product owner, scrum master, or scrum team member). Roles are important because they provide greater flexibility than job descriptions, which are often bound to formalized performance plans and perhaps even to contracts. This flexibility is important because organizations are increasingly adopting operating models that are more evolutionary and less structured than most companies h

As with most things, ITIL® can be viewed from multiple perspectives. I have found that many people seem to take a polarized view of the set of best practices. They either see ITIL® from a very literal, functional and operational focus or they see ITIL® from a more figurative, conceptual and strategic perspective. The interesting thing about ITIL® is that it is both of those things and everything in between all at the same time! After spending many years reading, thinking, teaching and using ITIL® I have found that one of its greatest benefits is its flexibility. The set of best practices can be seen from strategic, tactical and operational perspectives. In addition it is my firm belief that to be a true expert in the best practices one must be able to think at all three of those levels at the same! Because ITIL® takes a lifecycle approach (cradle to grave for the life of a service) it operates very strategically. Because ITIL® provides a set of processes for achieving value fo

Originally posted on The AXELOS Blog - by @itsm_Donna In IT service management (ITSM) education is critical: it helps organizations get a shared understanding of terms and concepts and a proven body of knowledge such as ITIL® . The IT industry is rife with buzzwords carrying varied interpretations, so education helps get everyone on the same page. But while ITSM professionals may well understand the “what?” and “why? – for example why to minimize risk or restore services ASAP – today it’s the how that needs to evolve and change. And while there is always value in education, achieving certification creates a different level of engagement: people get involved and – critically – seek to understand. Getting certified allows you to represent your competence and understanding of the concepts you’ve learned. After that, you need to get out there and apply them to benefit your organization and add to your credibility and your baseline of experience. Today’s hiring managers are looking for th

ITIL 4 is coming! ITSM Academy is working hand and hand with the experts to ensure you achieve your mission. ITIL 4 Updates will be kept current for you so that you can stay the course . As a Global Strategic Partner of AXELOS (the owners of ITIL) we have been working with their teams, and the global community, to help ensure that ITIL 4 is "worth the wait". ITSM professionals have the opportunity to expand on the work, effort and skillsets that they gained from ITIL v3 and allow newcomers the opportunity to accelerate their ITSM and transformation initiatives. ITIL 4 will help us all to accelerate our productivity and to integrate Best Practices across the entire organization for real transformation and business value. ITIL 4 retains the best of ITIL v3/2011, with most of the operational and tactical practices and processes you know. The release also includes focus on integrating many best practice "frameworks". Think DevOps, Agile, Lean, etc. All good new

Originally posted on DevClass , June 22,2021 written by Joseph Martins and sponsored by Axelos Experience is everything when it comes to delivering IT-enabled products and services. But it’s no longer about how many deadlines your team smashed, how often you’d exceeded service-level agreements (SLAs), or how many lines of code you’ve spat out. Rather it’s about how the services and products you deliver impact the rest of the organisation’s ability to do their jobs, increase productivity, deliver customer satisfaction and co-create value. “Experience” may be seen as subjective, even ephemeral, compared to the traditional IT metrics, deadlines and SLAs. But if you want proof of its importance, consider how ITIL® 4, the latest revision of the best practice framework for service management from AXELOS, focuses on improving user experience of digital services and how this enhances productivity right across the organisation. Ian Aitchison , VP Product Management at Nexthink, the leader in di